AIR MOLDOVA PRIVATIZED BY CIVIL AVIATION GROUP

The limited liability company Civil Aviation Group was declared winner of the contest on de-nationalizing the state company Air Moldova, announced the newspaper Ziarul de Garda on Tuesday, citing the sources in the Public Property Agency (PPA).

According to the contest results, the Civil Aviation Group, which was the only candidate for buying 100% of Air Moldova, undertook to pay 1.2 billion lei, 50 million lei of which will go to the state budget, while the rest will cover the airlines' debts.

The new owner committed to preserve the company profile as the national operator and the company development. In particular, the company has to launch seven new flights from Chisinau during 2019 and four more - before the end of 2020. In 2021 it is planned to launch flights from Chisinau to the USA, Canada and China, as well as a number of medium-distance flights. It was supposed that by means of cooperation with companies from CIS and EU countries, the Chisinau international Airport can be transformed into an international hub.

It is also supposed to raise the number of company's own airplanes of the type Airbus A320/A319 and the Embraer E-190, in order that by 2021 the company's fleet to be made of 14 airplanes. Due to this, it is planned to raise the number of jobs in the company in general. The buyer promised to spend around 3.5 million euros to 2023. The Civil Aviation Group was created on August 23 specially for participation in a contest on buying Air Moldova. It was founded by the Blue Air from Romania (the Romania's largest low-cost company) and two Moldovan citizens. The Blue Air became owner of 49% in the new company, while 51% belong to Moldovan citizens: Sergiu Melnic and Andrei Ianovici - 25.5% each.

According to the available information, Melnic is a financial expert, president of a consulting company in the US. In 2016 he participated in the contest for the post of National Bank of Moldova President. Ianovici is engaged in business in the field of air transportation. He is co-owner of the compaby AMS Airlines Air Charter (Georgia).